Evenings at the Microscope Or, Researches Among the Minuter Organs and Forms of Animal Life

First edition. [1859, preface]. xii, 510pp, with numerous drawings and figures in text. Bound in full brown leather with black rules front and rear, elaborate gilt decorations and lettering on spine with five raised bands, arms of King’s College London gilded on front panel. All edges gilt. Beautiful inner gilt dentelles. 12mo. Boards worn, rubbed at edges and over partially split joints, fraying at spine tips. Front hinge partially cracked. Prize presentation plate from King’s College London, indicating the volume was awarded to Edward Morland(?) Earle in 1871, on front paste down. A little spotting and browning on endpapers and adjacent leaves else internally neat, clean, bright and tight. Philip Gosse was a prominent field naturalist who achieved popularity with his books written in a lively, story-telling style. Drawing upon the earlier work of the likes of Hooke and Swammerdam, this volume both reflected and encouraged a continuing enthusiasm among the Victorian public of mid 19th century Britain for intellectual entertainment and an enduring passion for the microscope. Influential work. With nearly 100 illustrations, drawn by the author.